In August, 2011, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law a $16.4 trillion debt ceiling, the largest in U.S. in history. Most Americans see this as just another number; they don’t really appreciate the enormity of this figure. Here are a few comparisons to put this figure into perspective, and to make it more interesting.

The Popular Example

The $16.4 trillion U.S. debt ceiling divided by the country’s 115.9 million households is equal to $141,501 in debt per family.

Interesting Comparisons

Earth to Sun

If someone were to line up $16.4 trillion in one-dollar bills, end-to-end, the chain would stretch 1.589 billion miles: 17 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

Note: length of a one dollar bill is 6.14 inches; the average distance between the Earth and the Sun is 93 million miles

Great Pyramid of Egypt

The weight of $16.4 trillion in nickels is equal to the weight of 301 Great Pyramids of Egypt, the world’s largest man-made structure.

Note: 90.718 nickels per pound; Great Pyramid of Egypt is estimated to weigh 6 million tons

Height of Stacked Dollar Bills

If you were to divide $16.4 trillion by the 312 million people in the U.S., each person would have a stack of one-dollar bills that is 18.8 feet high.

Note: thickness of a one dollar bill is 0.0043 inches

Value of Gold in the World

The sum of the world’s gold is worth $9.5 trillion, considerably less than $16.4 trillion.

Note: all the gold mined in the history of mankind is estimated to be 5.3 billion troy ounces; the historical high for gold (August, 2011) was about $1,800 per troy ounce

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